Donald Trump's Hundred Days: The Real Story

The really odd thing about Trump’s hundred days is that, Euclid notwithstanding, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The record of Trump’s hundred days is much better than the sum of his actual achievements. And, in a way, that was to be expected. It is the idea of Trump, much more than the reality of his actual programs, that represents radical change. And it is a belief in the kinds of decisions he will make — more than any specific policy reversals — that is persuading entrepreneurs to invest money, create jobs, and take risks where they never would have done so under Obama.

Look at the comparison between the whole and its parts:

The Whole

• Job growth up 30% over Obama’s last three months

• Dow up 11%

• NASDAQ up 12%

• Existing home sales up 4%; New homes up 5%

• Illegal border crossings down 71%

• Trade deficit down 10%

• Barometer of current economic conditions highest since November 2000

• Biggest jump in business confidence in eight years

Quite an impressive track record.

But ObamaCare is still on the books. The Border Wall is not even begun. Trump’s signature proposals are still just proposals.

So why the improvement?

Its that business people and job creators have confidence in Donald Trump. And because, on dozens of different fronts, they can see that there is a new management in town.

EPA: Get Out Of The Way

• Keystone Pipeline approved

• Reversing Obama regs on power plants

• Rolling back vehicle emission standards

• Killed regs on small streams and rivers

Seal The Border

• Banned refugees from terrorist nations

• 5,000 new ICE agents

• No federal money to sanctuary cities

• Big cuts in H1-B Visas

Crime

• Rescinded federal orders to local police limiting law enforcement

• Formed task force on opioid abuse

• Ordered study on cutting attacks on police

Trade

• Imposed $3 billion in fines for illegal imports

Healthcare

• Ordered flexibility in rules for insurance plans

Draining The Swamp

• Banned lobbying by former govt employees for 5 years

• Lifetime ban on lobbying for foreign goats

• Cut two regulations for each new one

• Eliminated rules for federal contractors

• Federal hiring freeze

• Audit of all federal agencies

Good measures to be sure, but hardly enough to account for the turnaround in confidence and business attitudes.

So the real change, as always, was putting Trump in the Oval Office.

Dick Morris, who served as adviser to former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and former President Clinton, is the author of 16 books, including his latest, Screwed and Here Come the Black Helicopters.